After winning the first event of the season – in kind of an odd way, she admits – Nelly Korda took six weeks off to get her season started all over again.

And so far, the break is paying off.

Korda, who captured the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions when it was shortened to 54 holes due to weather, is firmly in the mix after two days of the Fortinet Founders Cup. At 6-under-par, she is five shots back of the lead held by Hyo Joo Kim as Kim finished with a 2-under-par 70 at Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club.

Korda carded a 4-under 68 on Friday. She recorded three birdies on her opening nine — the course's back nine — and added two more on holes No. 7 and 8. While she missed only two greens in the second round, Korda admitted to struggling with her putter.

“Some of the trees are a little bit intimidating and the greens are tough, too. Not only are they really undulated, but sometimes they're a little bit harder to read, too […] I've had like a bunch of putts inside of ten feet that I missed this week where I thought it was going to go one way and I hit it really solid and just kind of went the other way,” Korda said.

Still, she feels good about where she’s at after 36 holes.

Korda is now chasing her second victory in as many starts in 2026 after going winless through 2025 – somewhat shockingly. She, of course, captured seven titles the year prior en route to putting a bow on an incredible yearlong campaign.

Wildly, if you dug into the statistics, you saw Korda actually performed better in some key categories in 2025, where she never won, versus 2024 when she won seven times. Such is golf, however.

Korda is one of the most in-demand golfers in the women’s game, so while many of the LPGA Tour’s best shut it down after the CME Group Tour Championship, Korda teed it up in a handful of other events. So, her month-and-a-half break after her win at Lake Nona was her own little off-season.

Don’t think she was resting on her laurels, however. She said she likely only took five full days off, instead she was in the gym and out practicing with her coach David Whelan.

“You're just super excited to be back out, competing, playing among the best golfers early in the world. I think you're just your mind is a little bit more refreshed. I'm grinding a lot at home,” Korda said. “It was nice to be home for a little bit, get into a routine. Obviously nice to get a win at the start of the year even though it was in a sense a little bit of an interesting one with the weather. But, yeah, tried to work really hard when I was home to get ready for a long stretch now, starting this week.”

Korda said she also got adventurous in the kitchen in her time away from tournament golf, cooking none of the same recipes twice as she hunted for the perfect, healthy plate (it’s hard when she is on the road, being a foodie, not to indulge in all the great cuisines one gets to sample while travelling the world playing golf). She also was able to set a very new personal bests in the gym, including a 36-inch box jump.

“My trainer is trying to get me to 40. When I see 40 in front of me, I’m like, no chance. Super high. I don’t try to train like a golfer; I just try to train like an athlete,” Korda said. “I think that’s what makes the workouts so fun to me. I just try to do something different. And I love being in the gym. It’s kind of an outlet for some golfers.

“But yes, I hit lot of (personal records) this offseason.”

Whether it was time in the gym or time in the kitchen or time at the golf course, Korda did everything she felt she needed to do to get ready for a busy springtime stretch on the LPGA Tour. The big events are going to come quickly and an already full dance card this year will be made fuller with the return of the Solheim Cup, too.

But, as the women’s game’s No.2-ranked golfer heads to the weekend in California this particular week, she has a wonderful opportunity to go 2-for-2 this season.

“Happy with my first two days,” Korda said, “and ready for the next two.”

Nelly Korda in the Mix to Win Her Second Event of the Year at Fortinet Founders Cup

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